Holodomor Digital Collections

Non-Holodomor: Large number of children posed in front of a small log building in Russia

Description
Creator
Liberman, Isaiah, 1885 -1921, Photographer
Media Type
Image
Text
Item Types
Photographs
Postcards
Description
Many photographs taken during the 1920s international relief missions were posed, such as this one, and many include groups of children partially or fully unclothed to show the effects of starvation on the body. To date, we have not located any authenticated photos from the Holodomor that present a posed group of people suffering from starvation, except for a photograph by Nikolai Bokan of his family, http://vitacollections.ca/HREC-holodomorphotodirectory/3631568/data

This group photo taken in Buguruslan was one of many documenting famine conditions in the Volga region of Russia in 1921-1922. They were later used in newsletters, pamphlets, postcards, and posters to raise awareness, garner sympathy, and raise funds, particularly in Western Europe, for the massive relief effort that was quickly organized in 1921 to help the starving regions of Russia and later, Ukraine. In this case, the Friends Emergency War Victims Relief Committee (FEWVRC),an official committee that existed 1914 -1924 as part of what is now the Quakers in Britain, used this image for one of a series of postcards to raise funds for Russian famine relief.

The main participants in the international relief effort were the American Relief Administration (ARA) chaired by Herbert Hoover and the International Committee for Russian Relief led by Fridtjof Nansen. The largest and most consequential by far was the ARA. Participants that coordinated with one or the other organization included, among others: the American Friends Service Committee and the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee from the US; and from Europe: the International Save the Children Union, Friends Emergency War Victims Relief Committee, and the International Red Cross.
Notes
Source of postcard: Friends Emergency War Victims Relief Committee (FEWVRC) archive. ©Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain.

For further evidence of the 1920s origins of this photograph and a biographical note on the photographer, Isaiah Liberman, please see Related Features at right.
Inscriptions
Text on postcard below the photograph reads: "Friends' Work in Famine Stricken Russia. A Group of Famine Children. Send your help earmarked Russia to Friends' Relief Committee, 27, Chancery Lane, W.C.2.
Date of Original
1921
Subject(s)
Personal Name(s)
Nansen, Fridtjof
Corporate Name(s)
American Relief Administration ; Friends Emergency War Victims Relief Committee ; International Committee for Russian Relief ; Quakers in Britain
Local identifier
PD823
Collection
Select 1920s famine photos from Ukraine and Russia
Language of Item
English
Geographic Coverage
  • Orenburg, Russia
    Latitude: 53.6554 Longitude: 52.442
Copyright Statement
Protected by copyright: Uses other than research or private study require the permission of the rightsholder(s). Responsibility for obtaining permissions and for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Recommended Citation
Liberman, I. 1921. Group of famine children postcard Russia, circa 1921-22. Friends Emergency War Victims Relief Committee (FEWVRC) archive: LSF FEWVRC PICS 7_11_2. ©Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain.
Retrieved from: http://vitacollections.ca/HREC-holodomorphotodirectory/3636738/data
Location of Original
Original postcard: Group of famine children postcard Russia, circa 1921-22. Friends Emergency War Victims Relief Committee (FEWVRC) archive: LSF FEWVRC PICS 7_11_2. ©Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain.
Original photograph: National Library of Norway, Oslo, Norway; Wikimedia Commons image is in public domain; however: " Please provide information about where the image was first published, who created it, and when the photographer died, if known. The right to be attributed does not expire in Norway."
Terms of Use
Contact Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain for permission to use the postcard image for any purposes beyond personal use. library@quaker.org.uk
Reproduction Notes
Postcard reproduced with the permission of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain; pending.
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